


Día De La Megido

by Le_purple



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Candy, Cultural Differences, Dialogue Heavy, Día de los Muertos | Day of the Dead, Flowers, Gen, Happy, Makeup, Other, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 18:46:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16498181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Le_purple/pseuds/Le_purple
Summary: Aradia and Dave go travelling through time and space to celebrate the day of the dead.





	Día De La Megido

"So it's a whole festival celebrating the dead?!" Aradia asked excitedly. 

"Yeah pretty much." Dave replied. Naturally, the conversation topic of Alternian and Earth festivals had arose and Aradia had become curious about traditions regarding the dead, hence why they were going back in time to Mexico on Día de Muertos. They burst into existence and looked around through the evening light, making sure that nobody noticed them as they both sneaked into a public bathroom together. 

luckily for them, nobody was in the bathroom, and they locked the door ensuring no one else was able to enter, leaving just them.  
"What are we doing?" Aradia inquired curiously, looking around the filthy bathroom as if it were the strangest thing she had ever seen.

"I'm going to fix us up so you don't look like an alien, and I don't look like I'm with an alien." Dave said, getting out a face painting kit and preparing the pigments.

"I thought humans didn't have different blood colours."

"...We don't."

"Then what's that made of?" Aradia pointed at the paint Dave was stirring up inquisitively.

"Like, chemicals and shit, not blood." He dipped a makeup sponge into the face paint. "Alright, hold still." Dave said, brushing the sponge against her warm grey skin, Aradia flinching as the cold, white fluid spread across her cheek. It only took a minute until the blank base coat was applied, the white only barely hiding the grey. As Dave pulled away, Aradia flipped her head to look at herself in the aged mirror, whipping Dave with her hair in the process.  
"I look...weird." She muttered, touching the white skull that took up the majority of her face.

"Nah, you look fabulous, Vogue is fucking jealous of this motherfucking artistry right here." He began wiping on another coat of white face paint.

"Who's vogue?"

"The man who's going to cry at the sheer magnitude of beauty that this shitty face paint is going to give you."

"You mean that the shitty face paint-er is going to give me?" She teased.

"You know it baby." Applying the second coat wasn't much quicker, the thick paint glooping over the first layer. "Alright, this is going to take ages to dry so I'm going to start on..." Dave re-dipped the sponge into the white paint and began rubbing it onto her horns, the paint dripping into the ridges and lines. Once he had finished the first layer on her horns, he began the detail on her face, dropping the sponge back into the face paint and picking up a paint brush.  
"Alright, so don't fucking move or I'll kick your ass into the green sun." He slowly danced the brush against her skin, painting intricate swirls. Dave re-dipped the brush a few times, and continued until he deemed his work satisfactory, proceeding to continue the work on her horns, adding another layer of white and drawing similar patterns to her face.  
"Aaaaand, we're fucking done!" Dave sighed, throwing the sponges and paint into the trash. Aradia looked in the mirror and gasped when she saw herself, choking Dave with a hug.  
"I look amazing, thank you!" Dave hesitantly hugged back, making sure no paint got on his shirt.

"Now we need you to change outfit because, no offence....it's a bit shit for 21st century Mexico." After he said that, she switched to her usual outfit, only instead of a bare head she sported a fedora.  
"You look fucking sick, alright lets actually enjoy the festival instead of doing makeup in a shitty bathroom."

 

Outside there were thin crowds surrounding graves, decorating them with candles and flowers and breads. The ground was almost completely covered in tangerine flowers that overcast the smells of bread and wax with a sweet and floral perfume. Aradia looked on in confusion.  
"What are they doing with those rocks?"

"Do you guys not even have grave stones?"

"No."

"What do you do with dead bodies?"

"We usually feed them to lusi, throw them in the ocean, decorate with the corpses; the usual. Why do you turn yours into rocks?"

"No, they're underneath the rocks. The rocks mark where the bodies are. Because it's Day of the dead, they're cleaning and decorating the graves of people they knew because of like, respect and shit." Aradia looked at the graves with Dave for a few minutes until she was distracted by loud cheering and songs from the other end of the thin forest.

"Can we see what that is?" She asked excitedly, her ears twitching to the distant noise.

"Sure."   
When they were nearer to the other end of the forest, Aradia was able to see bright lights with warm colours, and her ears were bombarded by the sounds of trumpets and guitars, the smells of scented candles and sugar engulfing her, adding to the sensory overload.  
"What's this?" She asked, dazed. 

"I think it's a parade...yeah look, there's a float." As she squinted, she could see a float through the crowd coming up from down the street. It was covered in pink tissue paper that feathered down to the confetti covered street. On top of the float was a band that was dressed like skeletons, playing music from their golden instrument.

"I thought humans didn't have the technology to make things float!"

"It's probably just the van of some hombre and his dad band."

"I don't know what it means but ok!" She said excitedly, watching the band as another float drove up to take it's place, this one completely covered it black decorative feathers, on top a moving skull that opened and closed its mouth, playing festive music that joined the cacophonous noise. It was flanked by flamenco dancers wearing flamboyant, vermilion dresses with black spots that swayed and swished with every movement and motion.  
"Dave! Dave look! They look so pretty!" Aradia squealed, grabbing Dave's sleeve and tugging him back and forth, his head rocking with the movement.

"Excusa," Aradia and Dave looked to the voice and saw a small group of teenage girls with red roses in their hair and face paint similar to Aradia "Puedo saco foto?" Aradia stared at her with a blank smile, trying to think if she had heard those words before.  
"They want to take your photo." Dave whispered, leaning close to Aradia.

"Really? Ok!" The girls looked at Dave, waiting for him to either shake or nod his head. He nodded.

"Thank you!" One of the girls said through a thick Spanish accent, snapping a quick photo of him and Aradia before her friends posed next to her. "Puede usted?" She asked, thrusting the phone into his hands. Dave didn't understand what she said, but could make a good guess. He stood back and tried to get all of the girls in the photo.

"Queso!" Dave said loudly, all of the girls smiling, including Aradia, though her smile was draped in confusion and guesses that she was meant smile too. Dave nodded at the girls, who disbanded together, one of them taking the phone and sauntering off to her friends.

"What were they saying? I don't think I've heard those words before." Aradia questioned.

"Spanish. Earth has multiple-" Mid-sentence, the large crowd of people began pushing and yelling. Dave and Aradia turned to see that a float was driving pass that was throwing small packets of miniature sugar skulls into the crowd by men wearing skeleton costumes.  
"Oh shit!" Dave yelled, trying to catch as many of the small packets as he could, Aradia doing the same and even turning her fedora upside down and capturing them that way.   
The crowd thinned slightly as the float moved along, people following to get as many of the packets as possible.

"How many did you get?" Aradia asked, looking down at her brimming hat.

"Bwa." Dave opened his mouth to reveal that he had a few in his mouth as well as what he collected in his hands and by using his shirt as a basket.

"What are these anyways?" Aradia inquired, inspecting the minuscule plastic wrapper. It was clear and squarish, and decorated with black tendrils and spirals, inside a small white skull with colourful and flowery designs.

"I think they're sugar skulls but I've never seen them like this before." Dave and Aradia fiddled with the packet until the miniature skull fell into their hands.

"What animal are they from? They're so strange and...tiny." Aradia said quietly, inspecting the hard and brittle skull closely.

"They're just skulls made out of sugar...I think." Dave said, biting down on the skull with a loud crunch, Aradia hesitantly following his example. "Oh shit, it's like meringue!" Dave said, surprised.

"Wow! That is..." Aradia lightly grimaced, sucking her teeth and smacking her lips "Really sweet."

"How many sweet foods do you have on Alternia anyway?" Dave asked, opening his mouth and popping another sugar skull in his mouth.

"Mainly cake and creamcicles, but this is something else entirely, bluh!" Aradia began tearing open another packet.

"You don't have to eat...another one." Dave said, watching Aradia cram another skull in her mouth.

"No, no, it's ok. It's starting to taste alright." 

"Are you sure?" Dave asked slowly.

"Yep!" Aradia put another skull in her mouth and continued watching the ending parade. The last float was the largest, and was surrounded by dancers with elaborate skeletal makeup, holding instruments that could almost be seen as gaudy in their aesthetics. The float itself was a cacophony of vibrant colours, and at the front was a giant plastic skull covered in flowers and pink swirls. The centrepiece of the float was the two giant plastic skeletons that were about twice the size of an average human, dressed as if they were at a wedding, though still maintaining the floral patterns on the skulls. Dave and Aradia looked at the display in awe, Aradia's gaping mouth curling into a smile. 

Above the floats, the night sky crackled with colours as countless fireworks shot up into the sky like birds from a nest.  
"What are they?" Aradia gasped, seeing bursts of colour forming shapes of skulls, flowers, or just splotches of paint on a canvas of black. 

"They're fireworks-"

"How do they work! What can you alchemise them from?!" Aradia interrupted.

"Woah, chill. I think they're made from like gunpowder and like...metal dust? I have no idea how to alchemise them though."

"I can figure it out." Aradia said dismissively, continuing to watch the fireworks with Dave.

With a final crack of colour, the fireworks ceased, and parts of the crowd began to leave to continue the celebrations in bars, the cemetery or at home with family.

"I guess we should get going now." Dave said, walking with Aradia into a secluded alleyway.

"Human festivals are so fun!" Aradia chirped, popping another sugar skull into her mouth as she and Dave went back to their own time.


End file.
